In Your Dreams
by Maijax
Summary: Following a rather harrowing day Rebecca tries to find out what is behind the odd behavior of her pilot and navagator.
1. Anger at zombies

In Your Dreams   
  
Part One   
  
The cool purple light reflected a warm summer sunset on the glassy surface of the lake. The blazing reds and purples matched the blazing feelings of love and passion blooming inside her. The scent of pine and warm grass enveloped them, relaxing her mind and body. She let out a happy sigh and cuddled closer to her love as a light mist blanketed their feet dangling in the water. Her love leaned over to murmur sweet nothings into her ear.  
  
"Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggggggg"  
  
Rebecca closed her eyes tighter trying to block out the shrill ringing of he alarm clock. Groaning she rolled onto her stomach and covered her head with a pillow, trying desperately to hold on to the dream she'd been having. It was such a good dream and she had felt so safe and loved.   
  
Grunting defeat she rolled out of bed, shut off her alarm, and started her morning routine. She showered, dressed, woke and dressed Molly, ate breakfast, walked Molly to school, then waved a taxi and started for Higher for Hire her air cargo business.   
  
She sighed as she thought of the stresses awaiting her at work. Customers whining about late cargo, the ever growing mound of paperwork, the bills for maintenance on the company plane, The Sea Duck. When she started the business a year ago she had no idea how hard it would actually be. At the time she had though that her new life would be full of success, adventure, and romance. Not stress and paperwork.  
  
Groaning she slumped back in her seat, stared out the car window, and let her mind drift back to the dream. She had been having dreams like this on a regular basis for the past five months. She didn't know who was in the dream with her, he was dream blurry and she always woke before he could say any thing. Still they left her feeling safe and happy.   
  
"All in all," She said to her self, "I'd say that that is a pretty good way to start a day" She propped her head on her fist and continued to stare out the window at the bright sunny morning "Perhaps today won't be so bad after all"   
  
***  
  
Sixteen hours later, Midnight Higher for Hire.  
  
Her day hadn't been bad, it had been horrible. And it just didn't seem to want to end.  
  
The clouds had been gathering all day, and now the raging storm outside matched her mood exactly. Pacing in circles around her office, Rebecca glared at the clock with unbridled fury.   
  
"If time doesn't pass more quickly I'm going to throw the stupid thing out the window" she growled to herself, hating the unbending clock which had only moved a minute since the last time she scowled in its direction.   
  
" If that fat, lazy irresponsible bear isn't back here in the next ten minutes I'm going to fire him, then I'm going to throttle him, then I'm gong to… to…. tie him to an ant hill!" This bit of rage brought a small smile. She did enjoy the thought of torturing her pilot. She would never carry her sadistic thought to actions, but she did love to let her imagination punish him for his habitual tardiness.   
  
"He's probably off at some party having the time of his life, while I'm stuck here with angry customers who need their deliveries made". She stopped pacing and pounded her fist on her open palm, "I am so sick of him wasting my time" Fuming she continued her pacing.  
  
"How many times have I told him more time means more customers more customers means more money, and money is everything. No," She corrected herself turning to her sleeping seven year old daughter, "Money is nice but it is not everything"   
  
She couldn't bear to leave her daughter with the babysitter for yet another night this week. That was again Baloos fault she thought of that and resumed her scowl. He came back late each cargo run he made for the last two weeks. Snarling she resumed pacing. It was only her daughter's presence that kept her from jumping into Cape Suzette Harbor, swimming all the way to Louie's and beating Baloo with is own bongo's. She smiled at the mental picture. "I could probably do it too" she mumbled "I know I'm angry enough!"   
  
She glared at the clock. Five minutes had passed. Strangling him and leaving his unconscious body on an ant hill just wasn't good enough anymore, She'd have to think of something better"   
  
Again she glared at the clock. Six minutes. "Hmmmmmmmm maybe I'll fire him beat him, then strangle him them leave him to in Thembria to freeze…in jail!" She snarled. She glowered at the clock, seven minutes had passed and she had worked herself into a true fury. The kind that blocked out all reason.   
  
The sound of an approaching airplane broke into her rage. Shaking with fury she threw open the door, stalked out side, and watched the airplane, her airplane, land in front of her. As soon as the door opened she let out a bellow that would have made even the most sinister of harpies proud.  
  
"BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! What stupid excuse do you have for me this time. This is the third time this wee-"She froze mid rant when she saw that it was not Baloo that come out of the plane but a stranger.  
  
He was a rather lean badger not much taller than she but muscular and tough looking, with a distinguished way of carrying himself despite his tattered and damp clothes.  
  
Quickly changing gears she demanded "What is the meaning of this?! Who are you? Where is Baloo? Where's Kit?" The latter two questions were immediately answered when a large grey bear and a smaller brown bear cub exited the airplane looking dazed and mumbling incoherently. Without even glancing at the shocked, silent Rebecca, Kit and Baloo walked stiffly into Higher for Hire.   
  
Suddenly at a loss for air, she stumble back and sat down hard on the dock. Recovering herself almost immediately she stood up brushed at her now wet clothes, and addressed the mysterious badger in front of her. "What happened? Who are you? Why did you come here?"   
  
The badger did nothing at first but stare at the apparently deranged woman standing before him, getting soaked in the rain. After a few agonizing moments he finally spoke "Perhaps Madam," He said in a posh slightly accented voice "We should discuss this inside"   
  
In control of herself again she escorted him inside, asked the badger politely to sit down then excused herself. She moved Molly upstairs so that the conversation she intended to have would not wake her. She tucked molly in on a big chair in the boy's bedroom. She thought briefly that it might be wiser to leave molly down stairs because Baloo's loud snores would surely wake her. She jerked in surprise when she noticed that Baloo was not snoring. She turned and looked at her pilot and navigator and saw that neither was sleeping. They were simply lying on their beds staring blankly at the ceiling. Now she was really worried.   
  
She loitered upstairs, stealing a few minutes to analyze the situation and completely compose her thoughts. It did not look good. She decided the best thing to do was to try and sort this mess out, "That man down stairs must know what happened" she told herself "I'll talk to him then see what I can do with these two". She cast another worried glance at Baloo and Kit still staring at the ceiling like zombies, and then headed downstairs.  
  
"Now, I want some answers," She demanded upon entering her office "Starting with who you are and what happened"   
  
" I," said the Badger shifting in chair to meet Rebecca's gaze "am Jack Calloway, and as to what happened," He paused reaching in his jacket pocket to pull out his pipe, "I am not entirely sure of myself" 


	2. Long Day is Over

In Your Dreams:  
The long day is over.  
  
Rebecca raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms in front of her aggressively. "You must have some idea" she said, a note of derision in her voice.  
"Yes and no" Jack looked uneasily at his pipe "you see I am what you might call an entrepreneurial adventurer. Mostly I visit exotic and dangerous places to research and gather information then report back to my employer. This morning I was flying over the island of Lesreves doing some aerial observation when my pane's engines went down and I crashed.  
"I don't understand" Rebecca's frown deepened as did her suspicion, "What does this have to do with Baloo he should have been flying a load of buckets to Leakdenstein".  
The badger frowned looked down and fiddled with his pipe the stripes on his forehead changing from a furry white V to a W in consternation. "You see" He continued after a long pause "I survived the crash but my airplane did not. I wandered around on that island for hours then quite literally stumbled onto your airplane"  
Rebecca's eyes narrowed at this, suspicion barely contained but said nothing. Jack continued his story  
"I went inside looking for the pilot but no one was there. I decided to wait in side the airplane for the pilot to return as it was staring to rain. I planned to ask for a ride back to civilization, because I need to buy a new airplane and replenish my supplies. Every thing was lost in the crash. Everything except the clothes on my back. Surly you can understand why I took such a liberty". Jack waited a beat until Rebecca nodded then continued "I waited there for another hour and was just about to leave and search for him on the island, when he and the boy returned. I tried to speak with them but I got no response." He fiddled nervously with the pipe "I had an odd feeling that something was terribly wrong but before I realized that it would probably be safer to take my chances on the island, the plane was in the air" Jack shook his pipe and tapped it on the table distractedly. "Throughout the flight I talked to your lot. When talking did not work I yelled. When that did not work I pushed at them, I even pinched them but to no avail" He looked up at Rebecca and stopped tapping his pipe "I assume they are not always in this state?" Rebecca's throat constricted, unable to speak she shook her head no.  
Unsure what to say next Jack sat back in his chair and puffed absently at the unlit pipe. He could tell by the expression on the strange woman's face that she did not believe him. "What did she say her name was?" he pondered "I don't believe she said" He looked he over, frazzled unkempt hair, bags under her eyes, clothing still damp from standing out in the storm. He saw the worry in her eyes as well as the suspicion, and wondered what her relationship with the bear pilot was. She looked much too concerned for it to be a simple employer to employee relationship they had to be friends at least. "Not brother and sister surely, they don't look a thing alike. Although she could be related to the boy they look enough alike. Mother and son perhaps? Does that make the pilot the father?"  
Rebecca was lost in her own thoughts. She watched Jack suspiciously wondering if she could trust him. Her mind turned back to Baloo and Kit. "What had happened to them? Should I take them to the doctor? The police? Did this Jack person do this to them? Should I trust him?"  
Jack's Stomach growled breaking the silence. Jack smiled and put his pipe back in his jacket pocket "Madam it is late and I have no where to stay might I bunk here tonight?"  
Rebecca smiled as well "I really don't have much choice" she thought "I have to trust him... for now"  
"Sure" she replied "Err Do you mind sleeping on a hammock? I'm afraid that all we have."  
"Madam" Jack said with a charming smile "Right now I would gladly sleep on a picket fence" Just then his stomach made a ferocious growl.  
Rebecca giggled"would you like something to eat?'  
***  
  
Higher for hire 2:00 am  
  
Sighing with complete and total exhaustion Rebecca flopped bonelessly onto Baloo's giant tattered and patched chair. Try as she might she just couldn't snap Baloo and Kit out of it. She had pinched, slapped, poked, pouted water over their heads but nothing worked they were still lying upstairs like zombies and there was nothing she could do about it. She sighed "There's nothing I can do but wait till morning", she closed her eyes the long, long horrible day was finally over.  
  
***  
  
The warm summer rain fell softly on her skin as she danced. Her eyes closed as she abandoned all worry and responsibility. That moment was all there was. There were only two people in the world, her and her love. Nothing else mattered. As they danced in the rain, a soft deep voice hummed Moonlight Serenade in her ear. She sighed and placed her head on his chest reveling in his warmth and the strong circle of his arms around her. Her voice hummed along with his in a harmony that, like their love, fused them as one, then floated out into the night. The dancing stopped. She reached up to him her lips poised for a kiss then-  
"Becky" She was shaken awake. "Beckers wake up". She opened her eyes to glare at the unfeeling lout who had woken her out of that wonderful dream.  
"Hiya Becky. Whatcha doin' sleepin' in my chair?" The big gray bear asked amusement in his tone.  
She gasped sat straight up in the chair eyes wide with surprise.  
"Ba-Baloo?! You're... You're all right!" 


End file.
